Wake Up
by GarrusVakarian2153
Summary: After the events of The Citadel, the crew is sent to investigate a new enemy. It doesn't take long for everything to go wrong and Garrus has to struggle to overcome them, while Shepard and the rest of the Galaxy also have to fight to defeat this new enemy. Has the Galaxy recovered enough to survive this one? And how far does the bond between Shepard and Vakarian go?
1. New Orders

Chapter 1

New Orders

I don't know what we expected.

Did we really all believe that things would just quiet down after we destroyed the reapers? After everything that happened on the Citadel? With EDI? And now this… could anyone have predicted this? There wasn't a damn thing to warn us about it and now that it's over… where do we go from here?

The voice of The Intelligence echoed in my mind like a scolding mother. This is what it promised would happen; we beat it, we always do. But what could possibly be next? It was hard enough recovering from the reapers but this? We had a nightmare brewing the entire time and NO ONE knew a damn thing about it. Things got close, real close. And now whenever I get the chance, I grip Shepard a whole lot tighter, and keep her a whole lot closer. And when the next firefight happens I'll always be sure to keep her within my visor, and her danger within my scope…

#

#

It had only been a few weeks since we had brought the new Citadel back into the widow system, we stayed on dock for a little over a week while everyone re-acclimatized to having it around again. As the days passed and the crews spirits grew restless we were itching on the rumours and wishing them to be true. Not in the sense that we liked the danger, but when you've accomplished all we've done… theres only so much quiet you can handle —-not that you'd trade it… but you get that itch. The itch for more. And when the rumours proved true, there wasn't a single person on the Normandy who didn't know what it meant.

We were headed for some more action.

You could feel it as you made your way back in through the Normandy airlock, walking by as EDI gave a wave from her cockpit jump seat and Joker called out a snarky comment that in his own language meant 'hello, welcome back'. As I moved though the CIC to the forward battery I could feel it, the crew was moving faster, the ship felt more alive. I strided my way past Traynor ignoring the looks of awe from some of the new crew members manning their stations. I gave Traynor a quick 'where is Shepard' look and she quickly spoke out:

"Welcome back Garrus, Shepard is in the comm room speaking with Hackett. New orders, and from what I gather… it's big. Shall I send her your way next time she passes by?" She asked.

"If she isn't too busy… you know where I'll be" I responded as the elevator arrived and opened up.

Before the door closes I gave Traynor a quick nod, the look of excitement across my face that only Shepard or another turian could decipherer.

"Traynor." I said as the doors closed.

As the doors opened to the crew deck I knew a likely place where I could get some info on what we were headed into before Shepard could brief me…

I made my way towards Liara's room -Liara had only been able to rejoin the crew recently, having important work back on Thessia, along with some in-person shadow broker business elsewhere she only rejoined us when she was informed about the new Citadel. And then soon after that she found out about some important information Hackett was in possession of — wouldn't be surprised if she was involved with him getting it— and that it likely meant us getting involved.

She arrived just a day after we had been able to get the Citadel into the widow system. As I walked into her room she was typing furiously on her terminal with her back turned to me, Glyph popped out of his corner and was the first to greet me.

"Vakarian! A pleasure to see you, as always! Liara is over by the terminal, she should be pleased to see you!" It buzzed over-enthusiastically.

Liara quickly turned around and when we locked eyes she gave me a wide smile and walked over for a hug. "Garrus! Glad to see your alright, I heard about everything that happened with the Citadel and Shepard. How are your injuries, punctured lungs are no laughing matter." She said

I shook my head with a smirk, I knew that nothing happened without her knowing, between her and EDI secrets are hard to keep.

"Not surprised you already know all the details… in which that's what I was wondering, I assume you had to be the only on this ship to have some real information on all this… it's good to have you aboard again." I said, glancing over to all her monitors that tracked your movement like eyes.

"Speaking of some information, your sister has drawn a lot of attention back on Palaven her interview on the Citadel situation is the most watched thing on Palaven right now… as for what Shepard is talking with Hackett about right now, I'm frustrated to say I don't know much" Liara said with a sidewards tilt of her head and a agitated tilt of her eyebrows.

"So the biggest information broker left in the galaxy doesn't even have any information…how sad" I said, teasing her just a little, thinking maybe she is just holding information back… you never know.

"I've sent whats left of my team to find out about these new group, all I got back was they're some kind of terrorist group, and they could be trouble, _and_ that they are very good at remaining hidden." She said, shrugging her shoulders as she tapped away at her terminal, infrequently looking my way as she spoke.

"Any place my teams did discover were not within any charted systems… unfortunately I don't have the resources to have a tap on every corner of the galaxy. I'm still not back up to full strength after the war… Most of my attention has gone towards getting everyone back on their feet and speeding up trade between planets. Spying hasn't been top of my list, and I've hardly had enough time to figure these guys out but I just hope they are not another Cerberus because— Goddess… look at me ramble." She stopped herself, and I walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, we took out an entire galactic invasion force. Terrorist groups are small time right? Nothing we can't handle, I'm not worried and we'll all hear from Shepard soon enough." I said, a little disappointed but not at all stressed about the lack of Intel.

_I mean, look at all we've gone through. I always expect the worst but… then again it really seems like we've already passed that. Right?_

As I was starting to make my way out towards the forward battery, Traynor came on through he comm:

"Garrus, Shepard just passed through the CIC, she's heading down to you now."

"Thanks Traynor" I responded to the walls and made my way to the elevator. I figured I had enough time to go to the kitchen and grab a snack for her so I did and as I arrived at the elevator the doors opened and Shepard walked out, jumping a little in surprise at my being right there, I offered her the small meal in foil wrap — swarma or something like that— She did her usual 'aww you' smile and took it, ripping open the foil and taking a huge bite, she walked with me towards the briefing table and we both sat down.

"So… new orders?" I asked when she was half done her food.

"Mhm mm… EDI.. Mhm" She said between bites, and EDI came on the comm.

"I have sent the message, the crew are on their way." She promptly replied.

Shepard swallowed the last quarter of her meal almost in its whole and then once she could breath again she spoke.

"Hackett doesn't know anything, no one knows. We need to go to some place they found." She said.

_Aannnnnd not even Shepard knows. I remember why I like intel._

"You mean the place _my_ team found… well at least the only base that my team found and never reported in again." Liara said, walking over and finding a seat. Not long after most of the rest of the crew began making their way over and within a minute they were all here: Kaidan, Chakwas, James, Cortex, Liara, Tali, Sol, Joker and EDI, along with a number of other crew.

"Ok liara, you were saying?" Shepard said, re-iterating what we were talking about earlier for everyone else to hear.

"Two months ago, some agents came upon some information on a new terrorist group, not much, but enough to believe it's valid data. Last week they happened upon their first base, empty. And no information other than coordinates to another base. Two days ago my team arrived at this base, they never reported back. I still haven't heard anything and all I know is it's linked to the information we discovered a few months ago." With a tap on her datapad, all relevant information lit up on our various datapads and omni-tools.

Some clearly well funded and previously unknown group did something with one of Liaras shadow broker squads, she had been forwarding information to Hackett and he eventually agreed that it was best Shepard and her team go check it out. Thinking himself that it was probably—hopefully— nothing. Liara knowing he would have Shepard investigate once he got the information, cut her previous business short and took a shuttle to the Citadel to meet up with us before we would get our orders.

If anything it really seemed that it was Liara giving Hackett the order to order Shepard to investigate, though I doubt any one else picked up on it.

"So were heading to some creepy base somewhere to find what took out one of the most effective teams left in the galaxy? Kee'lah if it's spiders." Tali said, arms crossed and shuddering, making a disgusted face behind her mask that you could make out from the squint of her eyes.

"Pretty much, though probably less creepy, and more dangerous. Though I'm sure we'll easily handle whatever we find. Most importantly we find out what happened to Liara's team, then we find information on this new group. Then we assist Hackett and the G.D.F in taking it out." Shepard said.

G.D.F is the Galactic Defence Force, kind of like the big brother to the Citadel defence fleet. The council commissioned it after the war, seeing as the galactic fleet Shepard was able to gather was effective enough to survive against the reapers long enough for her to activate the catalyst, they found it necessary to have a combined fleet on hand to call upon out of each races respective fleets at times of need. Whenever needed, the council can order them into place and have a combined force within 24 hours.

The Sunset Defiance Contingency.

"What do we know about the station itself? We know the fastest way to destroy it if need be?" Sol asked, reading through the brief on her omni-tool.

"Just the location." Shepard said.

Final questions from among the crew were asked, and all were given sub-par answers. The truth was we didn't know much, and we were basically going in blind with little help. Still no one seemed to worried, at most only a few people were noticeably apprehensive —and those people were the new crew-. Once the table cleared and the brief was over, I glanced at Shepard and motioned to the forward battery doors, she stood up and we both walked over and waited until we were both behind the doors before any of us said anything.

"You ok?" I asked, always one to worry.

"Just wish I could get more information before being sent somewhere." She replied, moving over to the wall and messing around with some of the tools.

"I know. I guess it was silly to think our vacation from stepping in to messes would never end. I just hope nothing kidnaps you this time." I said, referring back to recent events that lead to the new citadel.

"No promises, but I'll do my best as long as you promise not to almost get yourself killed several times in one day." She said.

"Following you?" I retorted.

"Yea… good point. Promise to stick together until this thing is over?" She asked.

"Promise. I'm with you Shepard, and when we finish these guys I'm taking you to Palaven. There's a really nice vacation spot they've restored, you don't need a radiation suit within it and it has a beautiful view." I said, sub vocals betraying how bad I am at sounding romantic.

"That sounds nice, Liara told me about these mountains one time, maybe we could visit there too, have a picnic." She offered, placing the tool back on the wall and moving over to look at me from the other side of my terminal.

"If your thinking of climbing that in the mako, I'll kindly decline. The best part of that place is the trees right around the base. Similar to those redwoods on earth but…."

All those trees had burned to ash, the entire mountain was on fire for months. It was nearby Cipritine and when the reapers found out about all the Turians hiding out in the mountains… they torched the whole thing. I remember watching them light it up, you could watch it from Menae.

"Yea.. I know, It'll be nice to see how those new trees are doing, but lets just make sure this new intel is nothing first." She said, shifting our attention to the current task at hand.

She called to EDI and had her set a course for our destination, a asteroid system a few light years away from Omega. Nothing there except thousands of space rocks orbiting a dwarf sun. Well… at least theres supposed to be nothing there. The inertia dampeners kicked in as the Normandy began to move again, and Shepard and I nodded to each other and headed to our respective areas to prepare.

#

The Normandy came out of FTL and jolted you like someone giving you a slight push. We all waited as Joker and EDI flew the Normandy through the dense asteroid field. The techs were listening on the comms, and checking all the systems. Everything seemed clear… abandoned… there was nothing here at first glance, but intel said the base was here… somewhere.

There was a subtle, barely perceptible feeling of the mass effect fields keeping us upright compensating for the twisting and turning the Normandy was doing through the asteroids. I'm sure Joker was enjoying it, he hadn't had to fly in crowded space since we took out the collector base, and I'm sure it must of been there somewhere at the back of his mind as he seamlessly tapped away at his controls.

"This route will close before we can pass it; indicating alternate route" EDI said, and joker turned the Normandy again into the other route, just as two massive asteroids collided making an audible boom through the emulated-audio radar system (E.A.R.S). Through the front windows you could get a glimpses of the small but bright white dwarf sun shining light between the gaps, there were no planets here, just rocks. So the base had to be on an asteroid, but which one? There were thousands of them, and it would be pretty simple to hide on one… or in one. We were flying around for about an hour until we found something.

A massive three kilometre long beast of a space rock was forcing its way through the field, easily knocking other rocks out if its way, and obliterating the smaller ones. EDI picked up a faint biotic barrier in one of the many tunnels that made up the shell of it. Upon a closer fly by, we confirmed that this is what we were looking for.

"Got anything?" Shepard asked from behind Joker's seat.

"Scans have nothing, we cant get any idea of whats in the centre of this thing. All we can get is a layout of the place with the deep scanners, I'll put it up in the war room." He said, keeping his eyes on his control panel the whole time.

Shepard called James and I to the war room, when we got there Sol was already looking through the layout of the building, searching for weak points.

"I've shown EDI several key tunnels the Normandy can shoot at in case we need to kill this place in a hurry. Now I assume this big place here-" She pointed to and zoomed in to one of the 5 square rooms that were tunnelled into deep within the rock. The base itself took up a small portion of the asteroid itself. "—is some kind of living quarters, but this place here—" she gestured to another spot and the hologram brought it up "—This is where we want to go. See this dark zone? It's shielded, thats why these two corridors here look like their just dead ends. Whatever is in here, whoever owns it didn't want anyone knowing about it. As for if anyone is still around. We wont be able to find out until were inside."

"Scans of our surroundings are quiet. There are no heat signatures anywhere within this belt, no ships have passed through in at least a few days." EDI announced through the comms.

"I'm ready to get this started commander, I'll head down and prep my gear, I'll meet you by the kodiak." Vega said after getting a good look at the place.

"I think it would be best if the Kodiak drops me off here, that way we can make our way to the dark zone from both sides." Sol said, looking to Shepard for the green-light to go alone. I wanted to suggest against it, but a quick look from Sol that said 'don't even object, you know I can take care of myself' kept my voice silent.

"I've seen what you can do back on the Citadel, I know you can handle yourself. But if you see anyone, don't engage until you've cleared it with me ground side. If you can, get past them and meet us in the dark zone." Shepard said.

"Not a problem Commander." Sol replied.

"I'm ready when you are Shepard" I said, and after a few more words, we all headed down to the cargo bay to prep our gear.

Joker brought us in closer to the asteroid and the Kodiak left the Normandy. It flew into the first tunnel and dropped off Sol, as soon as she stepped off the Kodiak and onto the platform she disappeared in a shimmer of light. (If you haven't read The Citadel— she is an infiltrator. In fact, you should read that story before this one. Up to you.)

"Right, see you on the inside" she said through the radio.

A minute later we were at our drop point. The three of us stepped out and the Kodiak hummed away. I pulled out my assault rifle and the three of us moved in standard formation. My breath steadied and my senses heightened, I kept an eye out for anything out of the ordinary and made sure Shepard was close by.

Just like old times.

As the airlock into the base closed behind us, and as soon as it was determined that the air was safe to breath I snapped off my helmet and clipped it to my side with the pistol mag-lock. It was quiet, and our steps echoed down the hall a little more loudly than I'd of liked. A few minutes in and there was still no one. On our end the place was empty.

"Sol, what do you see?" Shepard called in through the radio.

"Too many empty bunks. This place is a ghost town, whoever was here before… their gone." She replied.

The place was empty.

There wasn't a single living soul here.


	2. An Old Threat

"There's nothing here… And with you? Usually means something big and nasty is gonna jump us" Vega said in a low hushed voice.

"Don't jinx it James. I was just getting comfortable with the quiet." Shepard replied back.

"Really?" he replied, genuinely surprised.

"No. Not really. I'm fully expecting something to jump at us." She said as she moved us into the second open room.

The last one we cleared seemed like some kind of medical wing. The only thing was there was way too much equipment in there for simply keeping people healthy. The darkroom we were headed to was about 4 times bigger than any of these rooms, and these were pretty big. I would of guessed at there being close to a thousand people here at one time. The barracks Sol moved through was like a giant warehouse with quad-bunks. She even radioed in suggesting they kept prisoners here. Shepard said it wasn't totally off the table, but she wondered why anyone would ever need so many prisoners off-grid, and why.

"Since when to terrorist groups kidnap and hide in some asteroid field rather than the usual terror MO?" She said.

"Yea. True, but if they kept a bunch of people here, the question is why? And where are they now? We didn't exactly let them know we were coming" Sol replied through the radio.

A faint guess at the back of my mind was starting to form, but I pushed it away, it was just thinking of the worst possible outcome, and the chances that it was what was going on here were slim. I just kept silent and kept moving. There was nothing of interest in the second room either, Sol was still exploring the barracks for any information. Other than a few credits Shepard, Vega and I came up empty. Any clues as to what this place was, who these people were, or where they are now were non-existent.

"You think they cleaned the place out on their way out?" I suggested.

"Assuming their gone. It's a possibility." Shepard said, shifting through some shattered data pads.

After a few more minutes we decided to move on to the third room, the last one before the dark room.

As we were walking through the corridor that connected both rooms I thought I heard something.

"Hold up! Shh." I called out and raised up my rifle.

We all stood there, guns raised and waited for something to jump out at us. Nothing. I swear I had heard a faint patter noise... Or breathing. The feeling of being alone quickly vanished, though I wasn't totally convinced I wasn't hearing things.

"It's… still pretty quiet Lola,… scars getting old?" Vega said.

"Getting old just means I'm smart enough to know how to stay alive Vega." I retorted.

That shut him up pretty good, and after a quick exchange of glances between he three of us, we agreed to continue on.

The next room was empty, nothing but rows and rows of equipment with no one around to use it. By now I was getting pretty tense, where the hell was Liara's team? At the least we should find signs of a fight, anything. Nothing was tossed over, there were no messes, no blood streaks, not even a single breadcrumb to go off of.

"Sol, any sign of Liara's team?" Shepard asked.

"No, though there's some pretty strange equipment here. Tubes and tanks, all empty; I'm moving up into the darkroom."

"So are we, meet you in the middle" Shepard replied, then motioned us towards the other end of the room.

A large bulkhead door blocked our way, the door was locked and encrypted from the other side, and we had to tear open a side panel to force it open. Pressurized air made an audible whoosh as the door pistons released, and the door slacked open. On the other side was darkness, no lights, no way to see whats in front of us.

Great. Definitely a trap.

"Flashlights" Shepard whispered, and turned on the flashlight on the front of her rifle.

I turned on my light and kept an eye on my visor, it was the best chance at seeing anyone in the dark… hopefully before they see us. This was by far the largest room yet, it's ceiling was beyond the range of my visor, though from shining a light up wards I would guess it almost reached to the edge of the asteroid. The scans told us nothing, the place was shielded —which meant no communication with the Normandy- and we had no idea what to expect. We moved forward and began passing those tubes and tanks Sol mentioned earlier.

Black tubes that fed from the walls and the floors into these tanks with glass fronts. Nothing in them, empty… and subtly familiar. I was beginning to hate it in here; I took an extra stride and closed the distance between Shepard and I. I didn't trust this place, and I had a strong feeling that things were about to go bad fast, but maybe thats just the dark. Things always pop out at us in the dark.

"We need to find a light switch" James said, and Shepard agreed.

We found a sign against a railing, the control room was two floors above us. We radioed Sol to meet us there and continued walking through the dark, and it wasn't until we were at the stairs did I notice… it got even quieter, there was nothing, not even a damn vent fan and you could feel the difference it made in the atmosphere, something was different.

We climbed the stairs, and reached the next platform. Then we heard it.

A blood-curdling scream of a banshee not ten feet from us, and the sudden thunder of uncoordinated footsteps.

Time froze, in the span of under half a second things seemed to hold in place, the shock froze my muscles and I felt paralysed. My mind exploded with emotions, dealing with the sensory shock and the struggle to gain control over the natural fight or flight instinct. If my jaw dropped, I didn't notice, things happened too fast to notice it. It was chaos in that half second, and it was a feeling I will never forget. In that half second my brain bursted it's way through the tidal wave of emotion and panic at that dreadful sound. Then everything cleared in an instant and only one thought remained clear.

Protect Shepard.

"OPEN FIRE!" I screamed and blasted a round straight through it's left eye, it blasted away half of its face, but it just shrugged it off and kept moving it's way forward.

"AWW FUCKING SHIT WHAT THE HELL MAN!" Vega screamed as we all opened fire and dove for the nearest cover, the Banshee let out another bone shattering scream and tossed a warp field right at me.

Shepard blasted it away with a warp of her own, and I took another shot, through the left shoulder, didn't hit anything important, so I sent a concussive round right at the same spot, it bounced off. The Banshees barriers just went up. The thing was five feet from us, and we could hear husks running in from the darkness. Through the blasting of gunfire, it felt like we were surrounded; every dark shadow and corner felt like it harboured one of the previously extinct abominations.

"SPIRITS! SHEPARD WE HAVE REAPER FORCES!" Sol screamed through the radio over the sound of her own rifle. Off in the distance, we could see her elegantly back-stepping while the light from the muzzle of her gun lit up several husks that were trying to overrun her.

Sol hates husks, they screwed up her leg, and their why she has a re-bar drilled into whats left of her femur. She still hasn't found the time to go through the months of amputation and clone tissue replacement surgery, so they just reinforced the thing and she's been living with it ever since.

She hates, hates, hates husks. Though she would never freeze at the sight of one, her training prevents that. Instead she turns that fear and hate into calm rage, and anytime a husk goes after her is a bad day to be a husk.

"NO SHIT!" Shepard screamed as she hurled a warp field that took out the banshee's barriers as James and I lit it up and finally took it down, it's corpse falling right onto the cover we were sharing, its hand falling right on Jame's shoulder, which he quickly shoved it off.

"Sol, get to the way point, we need light. We'll keep the reapers at bay!" Shepard said. We moved back and up the stairs, James and I going up back wards and guarding the rear while Shepard covered the front. I kept an eye on my visor at all times which had a distance indicator between Shepard and I and I made sure I kept it small. Husks began pouring into the light from our rifles and we shredded as many as we could.

Off in the distance, out of the corner of my eye I could see Sol in action.

She took out the husks in front of her with head shots in quick succession. They fell, and she swiftly turned around, whipping out her omni-blade and severed the heads of two husks that were trying to flank her. As they hit the ground she put two rounds into each of them without even stopping or looking, she kept her eyes forward. She moves like in a dance, everything seems effortless and calculated, her armour which fanned out into a short two piece leather skirt danced around as she moved, taking out husks left and right. She started walking forward then caught something out of the corner of her eye, she stepped back and threw her arms outwards to balance herself, then jumped backwards, rolling onto her back, around, and back onto her feet in a crouching position. Just as she did, a giant mechanical meaty arm slammed down onto the ground where she was just standing, she did another roll to the side as it swung forward and tried to smash her. Her light shined onto the brute for a moment, and my heart dropped a little more.

As if banshees weren't enough. What the hell was going on?!

Sol switched off her light, and disappeared in a shimmer of light. A few seconds later a giant explosion turned the brute into pink mist and shrapnel. As we reached the same level as the control room, Sol reappeared inside and at the controls. Behind the glass, she was looking down at the control panels and pressing some buttons, after a while the sound of a generator kicked in, and the lights turned on.

Honestly I think I may of preferred them off.

Way below us, about 6 stories down, was a mosh pit of reaper forces, with more banshees and brutes than my heart could handle counting, there were hundreds of husks, marauders, and a scattered number of cannibals. A quick glance, and it didn't look like they were all heading for the nearest set of stairs… though the ones still on the platforms were still actively attacking us.

I noticed the pack on Sols shotgun gunlock and called out to her through the radio.

"Sol, ground floor, unification day parade, NOW" I called to her, and she looked over at me through the window with a wide eyed look that said 'you gotta be fucking kidding me', she pushed herself away from the controls, and appeared out on the other side of the control room.

Sol took out a large package about the size of a krogan shotgun from behind her back. She flipped a few switches, and then dropped it over the side of the railing.

"Cover your ears and get down!" She screamed from the other side.

"Oh shit, Sol and her bombs, this is gonna hurt!" Vega screamed and dove for the ground, we all got down and a second later we could hear the clang of the box smashing into the crowd below us and followed by a massive BOOM. The flames shot up and died right on the edge of the top platform we were on. The shock wave sent the floor we were on flying up wards. As it heaved under the pressure, we were shot up more than a meter before the floor went down and settled in a drooping position. Reaper pieces were sent flying up wards and smashed themselves against the ceiling about two hundred feet up. Pieces came raining down and smashed against our armour, arms, legs, a head or two, and chunks of meat. It took a moment for all the big chunks to stop falling, so we could stop covering our heads.

We stood up again and quickly took out any husks that had managed to not get tossed over the side from the explosion. There was a second banshee that was on the same level as us, and it was still crawling towards us. A piece of metal from a railing went flying from the lower levels and bounced off the wall and sliced it in half from the waist down. It was still crawling, lifeless eyes full of hate and anger. Its head exploded as we all took a simultaneous shot at it. Once it stopped crying, there was silence, nothing but complaining metal, and unstable debris.

We met up with Sol in the control building, half the floor was drooped, and some of the control tables were destroyed. We were all breathing pretty heavily, and Vega was the first to speak.

"So, which one of us is gonna ask the big question of just WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT. I though the Crucible ended this nightmare. You telling me all that was for nothing?"

"They were slower than the usual ones." Sol said.

"What?" Vega asked, looking over.

"Since when do we get more than a minute into a fight and not have every reaper in the room alerted to our presence? The ones on the ground weren't moving. The ones that tried to kill us must of been guards. If these were the real thing, I doubt we'd all make it out in one piece. Oh and Garrus, you owe me another cain splitter. Those things aren't easy to make." Sol shook some dust off her shoulder, and checked her weapon. She seemed unphased from what just happened, and compared to the Sol I know out of a firefight, she was in total control. Ive only ever been in a firefight with her a few times, and that was only recently back on the Citadel. Before that, I never even knew she went through huntress training. Turians don't fear a whole lot of things. But something we do respect are huntress teams, and the high levels ones are even feared by some. Doesn't matter how many men you send after them, you go up against a group of huntresses, your gonna have a bad day.

Sol is one of fifty still alive after the reaper war. Not that I know any details about their confidential operations, but I would guess that she's one of the best. Naturally, she takes after me in that.

"Someone created those, after the war. Explains all the empty bunks." Sol continued.

"Where did they get all the people without anyone noticing?" James asked, looking out the window at the the carnage outside.

"Guess, we'll have to figure that out… hey Garrus, Unification day parade?" Shepard asked looking over at me.

Sol laughed, and crossed her arms, offering up the explanation for that to me with a wave of the hand.

"When we were younger, Sol snuck her own type of firework into the parade grounds. She set it to go off as the last firework in the show, it went off alright. Shattered windows a kilometre away. I saw her taking apart a cain" —the nuke gun— "last time I was on Palaven, and she told me she can make a bigger boom out of it if she adds fuel cells to it and turns it into a bomb. It reminded me of that parade and thats where the idea for the codeword came from." I explained, fond memories of turian fighters swarming the area for terrorists only minutes after it went off. No one ever caught her, far as I know, but dad found out eventually. I think he was even a bit proud.

"Right. Well it didn't kill us, so I guess it saved our asses. Nice work Vakarians" Shepard said, looking over at both of us and giving us a nod of approval.

"So the good news is the reapers aren't back. The bad news is some dumbass group still thinks making reaper troops is a good idea. We need to get this to Hackett fast. If this group has more bases like this, we could be having a huge problem." Shepard said.

I checked to make sure Shepard was ok. My heart was still racing and my senses were working overtime. This could have been a lot worse, and I was quite relieved that Sol had brought along her little firework. We were all ok. That bomb seemed to of cleared the room… and the bottom three floors.

"We still haven't found Liara's team Commander." I said.

"I think we have a pretty good idea of what happened to them, that bulkhead was locked from the inside remember?" she replied.

Whoever survived must of closed the door and sacrificed himself to prevent any of them from escaping. Though we never found any bodies, or blood on the floor. I wasn't entirely convinced that that was what happened to them, but I figured it wasn't that important to figure out the truth given what we've already discovered.

"Hey look at this, it's a shipping manifest." James said as he bent down to pick up an intact data pad. A quick read through it dated it as over a year old. It still had one planet listed on it.

Horizon.

"Makes sense, I mean, thousands of people were tricked into going there, who is to say they didn't ship some off to other places?" James said.

"Doesn't explain who did this to them after the reaper war, if this was done before the crucible went off, these guys should of been dust. This is more recent than that. We need to figure who these guys are" Shepard said.

The floor began to shake, and a we could hear a section of floor collapse.

Right. Time to get out of here.

We took the data off of the data pad and headed out, the way to the entrance we came through was gone, we had to head over to where Sol came through. We had to jump a few gaps in the floor, we eventually made it out of the room and made our way down the hall. Moving through the hall I heard that faint breathing again, or maybe it's just gasses moving through tubes, I didn't stop the group, and it didn't matter, whatever got Shepard out of here faster was the way to go.

We made it past the first room, through the hall, again that faint breathing, exhaling noise. Pipes. Has to be pipes. I scanned the wall with my visor and there were pipes on the other side of the ceiling. I just ignored it.

We were on our way through the last room when we heard another scream. Then another, and another. And another.

There were banshees at the exit, and they knew we were here.

"Well, they weren't here last time I passed through" Sol said with a slight unenthusiastic droop in her shoulders. The four of us ducked behind the nearest bunk. The four banshees moved further into the room, there were enough bunks in here to house a small army, so we figured with only four of them we could sneak our way past them.

If these guys came through the front, then how did Sol miss them? How did we miss them?

In a whisper Shepard radioed to EDI "EDI, we have reapers at the entrance, anything in the area that could have dropped them off?"

Nothing, there must be a comm jammer nearby, or maybe these banshees were jamming the signal. One of the banshees was only a few bunks away, James and I moved as low as we could, and distanced ourselves. Shepard and Sol followed while cloaked. As we ducked down again, the Banshee's movements shifted, we moved positions again, and a few times I swear they should have spotted us, but they didn't.

I guess these guys haven't got the hang of making effective banshees.

We moved to the edge of the room and skirted from bunk to bunk, trying not to make a sound. Easy for Shepard and Sol, it was almost like they wern't even in the room. James and I were in heavy gear and we held our breath as we moved from bunk to bunk hoping nothing would clang too loud. I had switched my visor off so the light wouldn't give us away. And with every new cover the Banshees seemed to shift the direction in which they were walking, but they didn't seem to entirely notice us, they just drifted through the room in that soulless nightmare shuffle that they do.

Suddenly one of them shifted and started moving toward the bunk we were behind. Shepard motioned towards the door which was only about forty feet away and without a word lipped to us 'Meet us there', then nodded at Sol and they cloaked and they made their way to the exit.

With some hand motions, I instructed James to go one way and I the other, that way it'll reduce the chance of either of us being seen by going the same way, he'll go towards the middle and circle around the banshee and he'll be clear to the exit, and I would go closer towards the corner of the room, and sneak my way past the banshee on the far side. He nodded silently, and as soon as the banshee seemed to be distracted we moved.

I moved to the corner next to a stack of compressed tanks and behind a bunk. I waited until James was in the clear then I moved forward a few steps and all the banshees in the room suddenly stopped and look over to where I was, I quickly ducked and moved back over to my hiding spot, focusing really hard on not breathing to loudly. Those tanks were staring me in the face, and through their reflection I could make out which direction one of the banshees was looking. They were still looking in my direction for a few moments, though it felt like a really damn long time. If I moved my head over a bit, I could see through the tank reflection the exit and three heads peering over the corner and waiting for me to make my move. Sol tossed some kind of rock, or something over the bunks and into the far corner, the banshees all turned that way screaming a little at the disturbance, they began to go investigate, and once they were about six bunks away I tried for the exit again.

I took a step and tripped on a wire, it pulled loose with a TING and I look over in horror to see a pin pull loose on those tanks. A foul smelling greenish purple cloud blasted into my face and I ended up taking lungfuls of the stuff. I coughed and tripped, and before I could balance myself or get a bearing on my surroundings a bomb that was hidden under the bunk next to the tanks went off and sent me flying through two bunks and towards the exit. I hit the ground hard and slid for a bit, my ears were ringing and I was quickly going blind and losing consciousness. Sounds of banshees and screaming and gunfire were among the last things I could hear.

I could feel a pain in my chest, and my heart slowing down. I could make out each beat as they spread further apart. Everything grew quieter and quieter as the darkness filled my vision from all corners.

The last thing I could see was Shepard standing over me, and looking into my eyes and saying something I couldn't hear.

And all I could think is, what is she saying? I want to hear her voice, please, her voice. What is she saying?

Her disembodied voice in my mind was reading her lips before her face gave way to the darkness.

She was saying

"Wake up Garrus

Wake up Garrus

Garrus, please wake up."


	3. All A dream

I jolted awake and sat upright, breathing heavily. I was in Shepard's quarters, I moved my hand over the sheets feeling for her, it was dark and I couldn't see anything. I couldn't reach her, so I called to the room for some light and the lights created a dim atmosphere bright enough for me to make out things in the room. I looked over and Shepard wasn't beside me. Her side of the bed was made, and there wasn't any of the usual disorganized mess at it's side. I smoothed my hand over it, questioning why she would bother to make her bed before heading out, especially since I was still sleeping.

Usually I wake up before her, and wait for her to rise with offerings of coffee, then once she gets out of bed I would throw the blankets back on haphazardly and we'd go about our day.

_She was probably called down for something… I should go find her._

I swung my legs out of bed and and went over to the chair where I leave my clothes. I swung some pants and a shirt on, then moved over to my armour and clamped that on too. I stopped at the top of the stairs and noticed how clean everything was on her side of the bed, my head snapped over to the subtle detail and the enigma of it tugged at me as I left the room.

Perhaps Hackett or some other alliance member was coming to inspect the ship, that's usually the only time any major cleaning happens… though you think she'd wake me up to help, or at least wake me up with the noise. I guess I must of been in a pretty deep sleep.

_Don't remember dreaming…_

I made my way out the door and down to the crew deck, as the doors opened EDI walked by with a plate of two hamburgers, some fries, and a rather large drink.

"Morning EDI?" I asked, not even sure what time it was.

"Garrus, glad your awake, we are around dinner time now, I am bringing this to Jeff, he… smuggled quite a bit of non-standard rations on board last time we were at dock. How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Good, er, alright. Wh… never mind." I said, figuring there was no point in asking.

"Liara is back from her two week trip to Thessia, she is in her quarters if you wish to speak with her."

"Yea I'll do that" EDI started to walk into the elevator as I stepped out, and before the doors closed I had to ask.

"Have you seen Shepard?" I asked.

EDI her eyes quickly locked to mine and her facial gyros twisted ever so suddenly as if triggering an emotional response in an organic, she paused a moment before saying

"You'll have to ask Liara… I don't know where she is. My apologies"

And with that the doors closed and I was left with the doors in my face and a mystery growing bigger every moment.

_Since when does the artificial intelligence of a warship not know where its captain is?_

I stepped into Liara's room and was greeted with open arms, after a few exchanges between two friends who haven't seen each other in two weeks Liara began to notice my stiff and slightly apprehensive mannerisms.

"Are you doing alright Garrus? How are your wounds?" She asked, and I looked back at her puzzled.

I tried to think back and I couldn't think of where I had gotten any wounds, last firefight I had been in was with Shepard, and that was more than a few weeks ago back on the Citadel against the keepers.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" I asked, and then it hit me, pain like that of stubbing a really big bruise shot up my left side and all the way from my arm to down my leg, I keeled over slightly and gripped at the pain on my side with my right hand.

"You crashed your car on the Citadel, you were speeding and another car hit you in the side, your car fell from three hundred feet and smashed through three walls, your lucky to be alive, I came back as soon as I'd heard. I had… I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

My head was bowed down and my eyes darted between spots on the floor as I tried to think back to when this happened, and yet I couldn't recall a thing. The more I tried to think back the fuzzier it all seemed, the only thing I knew was that Shepard was somewhere and I had to find her. The thought burned in my mind like a smoking addiction and the thought of being somewhere and me being beside her felt like the only clear and precise thought in my mind.

Liara reached out a hand and put it on my arm in a reassuring gesture.

"I… guess the crash could have given you a concussion… It wouldn't be surprising." She turned and walked over to her her bed and sat down on it, shifting through some data pads. The whole atmosphere was all wrong, I could feel it in my gut. Something was off, really off and I felt really uncomfortable.

"Have you seen Shepard?" I asked, the question that seemed to make everyone twitch as Liara made the same reactionary motions as EDI.

I watched as she gripped the data pad tightly and took a deep solemn breath and let it out.

"Garrus…please" she said in a tired voice, as if we had just been arguing for a long time.

"What? Its a simple question, I don't see why you or EDI can't simply tell me where she is. Is she planning some sort of surprise?"

"No Garrus I… we've been through this already, over and over, please can't you just remember? I don't want to say the words, please" she was really distressed and dreading this conversation. I was only getting more confused.

"Remember what? The crash? Was she in the car? Spirits is she alright? I… I" my breathing increased to a rapid rate and I paced the room racking my brain for the memories that eluded me, I was driving the car, was she in it? Is she ok? Did I kill her? Spirits have mercy, this isn't was happened.

Liara was standing now, looking at me with a deep frown and a sympathetic arch in her eyebrows and a droop in her shoulders.

"Garrus" She said, her voice the sound of defeat "Garrus Shepard is dead, you put her name on the wall yourself, she died ending the war, you keep forgetting."

A sudden an intense feeling of rage swelled up inside me and I rushed towards her ready to lash out. I wanted to grab her and scream at her face "YOU LIAR!" and as I got close she threw up a biotic barrier between me and her, the look of fear in her eyes piercing my own. Tears ready to run down her face as she watched her friend lose it, as she watched her friend remember that the love of his life was dead and that he couldn't remember and that her truth was like a pair of mutual daggers between us both, stabbing at our hearts.

"Garrus not again please, calm down!" She screamed from the other side of the blue.

"What the hell are you talking about? Shepard is alive I know she is! Why the hell would you joke about this? I saw her just the other day! I still remember that! You think I'd forget something like that?! Where is she?!"

I curled my fists and slammed my hands where hers were, I looked right at her questioning what sort of cruel trick or surprise lead up this could be.

_Why the hell would she lie about this!_

"Garrus Shepard died over a year ago and there is nothing you or me can do about it. You relapse every few months and forget that, and you always come back with some new story about something you did with her after the war, but shes dead Garrus! By the goddess I've had to remind you every time and I can't —I… Shepard died on the Citadel, she sacrificed herself to save us all, she is a Hero. She has monuments to her on every home world and all over the Citadel."

The Citadel.

"The Citadel was trashed when the crucible fired, how could there be a working Citadel if Shepard and I hadn't brought one back? She's not dead! Why the hell would you even say this!" I said loudly, desperate to find the hole in her lie.

She held her barrier firm and did her best to try and calm me, but I was still furious that she would do this. It was a level of anger I was completely unfamiliar with, and especially towards Liara.

"I know, there is a new story every time you relapse, some new 'fact' that you try to deny the truth with, and every time I must convince and remind you and its hard to do Garrus. The first time was a story about EDI attacking Shepard and you stopping it, something about the Reapers in her systems. The second time you told me how the Citadel was destroyed and she got kidnapped by keepers and it ended up with you freeing them and bringing back a brand new Citadel. But the Citadel was never destroyed by the crucible and I even had to take you there to prove it, to bring you to places they couldn't re-create. The third time you told me about the valentines plans you created for her and how nice it was to just be with her. Goddess, the weeks after her funeral were terrible. You were cursed with nightmares of Earth and they continued until one day you showed up in the crew quarters like everything was the way it used to be and you had no idea she was dead. But she is, and no matter what story you have now it doesn't change anything. You have her helmet in the forward battery and it still had the blood and dirt on it and you refuse to let anyone touch it. It justs sits there on your workbench haunting you. EDI wanted to take it away and you almost took her arm off with a plasma saw."

I let my hands drop in the silence, and I just stood there breathing heavily. This is why her side of the bed was made, she hasn't slept in it for over a year, Liara wouldn't lie to me, and I could see the truth in her eyes. This was no trick and I was the delusional one, the weight of it hit me and I just sat against the wall and buried my head in my hands trying to remember. Trying so damn hard to remember.

The room was silent, nothing but the slow hum of the engines to fill the emptiness, my ragged breath the only detail from my surroundings that was registering in my mind.

I was numb. Mandibles twitching in denial of the truth as I just sat there.

A minute passed before Liara let down her barrier with a sigh. She let down her defencive stance in favour of a more sympathetic one. She knelt down beside me and but her hand on my shoulder, a single tear escaping.

"So… What adventure did you have with her this time?" She asked. Sitting down and crossing her legs.

I was silent, thinking back on all my false memories, the only ones that were clear were the ones of her, and a few from my childhood. Everything else seemed so unstable and I felt unsure of them, and had no confidence in their legitimacy. Only the ones of her still felt like it could of happened yesterday. And damn does it ever feel like it did.

How could this happen to me? How could I forget something like this? Perhaps after spending so much time with a void in your soul where the light used to be, you just need to make do, make up. So you can get the same feeling you had when she was still around, when you still had time together…

When it wasn't _just_ Vakarian.

I slowly looked up at Liara again and just said

"There is no story… Not this time."

#

#

"GARRUS!" Shepard screamed as she watched her turian trip over the wire and get tossed by the explosion like a rag doll. The banshees immediately turned their cold dead eyes to the three of them and started their nasty walk towards them, closing the gap between her and Garrus.

"RRRRAAAHH" Sol hissed and tossed a disk at one of them that promptly exploded, severing the banshee into two pieces. James opened fire on the other and started walking the other way drawing it's attention away.

The remaining two banshees closed the gap and stared down the commander like two bitch bouncers from hell. Shepard ran at them, biotic blue fists of fury and biotic punched the first one in the gut blasted much of its fleshy contents out wards. The banshee bent down and screamed in her face and she swiftly grabbed it by the head and swung around and threw it over her shoulder and onto the ground and brought both of her hands up to create a large biotic field then brought the force of all her rage flattening the top half of it down to a quarter inch, silencing its screams.

The second banshee grabbed her arm, but before it could begin to tear, she closed her eyes, clenched her fist and sent out a biotic pulse that sent everything not tied down flying away. Bunks smashed into pieces against the wall and the banshee got impaled and was stuck against a support. In the distance and almost out of the attention of her hearing you could hear James yell

"Holy Shit!"

Shepard walked up to it, blue energy dancing around her, she lifted up a bunk with her biotics and smashed it right onto the banshee, and huffed out as the blue energy faded away.

She swiftly turned around and ran toward Garrus right as Sol left up onto the back of the banshee, twisted its head to the point that it would break the neck of any organic and shoved a grenade right in its mouth and pushed back and spun off it and landing low as it's head exploded.

Sol and James made their way over to Shepard who was kneeling over Garrus who was unconscious… or worse.

The whole right side of his armour was slightly charred from the blast and there was sure to be bruising. Luckily the bomb was ender the bunk that the flames never reached his face. Shepard had her face close to his and she kept screaming at him to get up, to wake up.

"Commander we need to get him back to the ship" Sol said, struggling to keep a calm and steady voice.

Shepard gripped her hand tightly and whispered "hang in there Garrus" then she tried to pick him up, but she collapsed. Her biotic display had sapped any remaining energy and she cursed at herself for not having the strength, she tried to lift him again and James and Sol took over, she followed them out the exit and called the Normandy for immediate emergency extraction. In fifteen seconds the frigate roared in and they got on board in under a minute.

Worried looks were cast their way as they hauled him up to the med bay, Chakwas was halfway through a medical report when they bursted in and placed him on the table. James took one nod then backed out of the room. Shepard's ears were ringing and she couldn't make out what anyone was saying, she was numb and all she could do was just stare helplessly as Sol tried to lead her out of the room with wasted words as Chakwas required the room.

Shepard shook her head, took one last look then turned away as the med bay doors closed behind her. The ringing continued and she half looked at Sols face as Sol hand her hands on both her shoulders and said.

"Shepard, he's going to be ok. Come one, Shepard are you listening, Spirits help us. He's going to be fine."

Beyond the ringing Shepard could only think of what he said before they left for the base. She said she wanted him to stay alive and not to get killed, for nothing bad to happen to him because she knew she couldn't protect him and do her job. She told him to be safe and his words kept repeating in her mind with his voice over and over:

"Following you?" he had said.

The dry irony of someone not following their own orders had set in, and the very reality of there might being one less Vakarian in her life because of her was like a punch to the gut after a ride in the mako.

She had to let Chakwas work, and there was nothing she could do.

Shepard took a deep breath and brought out the Commander, and told Sol she would be fine, and that Chakwas will succeed. She put on her brave face and laid all the concerned faces of the present crew to rest. Then after about a half hour of having to reassure and explain to everyone else what had happened, she took the elevator up to her quarters, locked the door, threw off her armour, and went and turned on some music, went in the shower…

And wept.

She let out the side of her she has shown no one except for the one person she was weeping for. She cried and hoped the music would drown her sobs and the shower would disguise her tears. She prayed to the gods and the spirits despite lacking any strong inclination to religion. She prayed and begged for him to be okay. She kept having to reassure herself and try and placate the tears. She huffed a humorless laugh when she said out loud

"He took a rocket to the face. This is nothing… guuahhh please come through that door right now with a new bandage and brag about a new scar Garrus."

The door remained closed and she soon gave up on the idea. She called to EDI and she told him Garrus was in better condition than when he arrived, but the situation was still uncertain. One word from EDI's report stung out and Shepard had to repeat it.

"Poisoned?" she said out loud.

"Yes. Chakwas detected an unknown toxin, I have no relevant data on her results. While Garrus's physical injuries remain optimistic in the long run, he is still unconscious and not responding to any external stimuli. Chakwas has also noted rapid eye movement she has associated with intense dreaming. I agreed with her that this is a good sign that any damage to his brain is unlikely. Though we still are unaware of the effects of this new toxin. Only time will tell.

"Find out what you can. He's on borrowed time right now." She said.

"Of course Commander." EDI said, and Shepard sat in the Shower until she had collected herself enough to head back down. She put on some fresh clothes, dried her hair, looked over at the blankets on her bed that were haphazardly thrown on by him just this morning. And resolved to commit any further energies into tearing whoever did this a new one and finding more information on how she could help Garrus and keep him alive.

The only information she had to go on was Horizon and she couldn't afford to waste any more tears.

Tears aren't going to keep death away from her turian.


	4. Growing Threats And Damaged Hearts

"Garrus, get in here" Shepard called out to him from the water.

"I've told you about Turians and water haven't I? I'll be just fine here, pretending to tan." He said in response from his beach chair. The beach spanned a mile, and waves splashed along the shore at about waist high, at the end of the beach was a fairly high cliff, with steps going all the way up the the house they were using for their three week mandatory vacation.

His eyes were closed and he never even opened them to notice the biotic blue bubble carrying a rather significant portion of the water that was heading toward him. Shepard's mischievous smile grew wider as her energies strained in concentration to keep the water moving closer to him.

_Closer… Almost…_

In one motion she released it with a drop of her arms and watched with a smile as the water fell and smacked right into Garrus with an audible 'SPLOOSH'. The weight of the water broke the beach chair he was in and he sat there, his arms up in shock as he blinked away the water wondering what in spirits-be-named just happened. It didn't take long for an answer to reach him as Shepard burst out laughing before having to run away as he chased her down the beach. Despite her rather quick running speed, Garrus —and turians in general— was always able to run a bit faster and he soon caught up with her and picked her up mid-stride. She whacked at his side with a mix of screaming and laughter as he carried her to the estuary and threw her in. Satisfied, he bent forward to get the remaining drops of water out of his cowl. He was just about to return to the remnants of his beach chair but before he could even take a step Shepard launched out of the water and using her biotics dragged him into the centre with her and dropped him in, flailing. He burst his head above water quickly in a half panic but realizing it was more than shallow enough for him to stand with his head above water and that it was in fact quite warm he caught himself and settled in with just his head above water.

"Turians, don't like water Shepard." He said, teasingly annoyed.

"I guess it's good thing you make a bad turian." She responded. Self satisfactory smile before throwing her head under water and swinging it out so her hair would be neatly thrown behind her shoulders. It had gotten pretty long, below her shoulders, she had only cut it once after the war thinking she still had military standards to keep, but someone told her they didn't think anyone would call her out for improper dress code. Ever. She agreed and decided to grow it longer so that it flowed a little past her shoulders.

"Still can't swim." He replied back to her.

"Good thing were hardly swimming" She said as she moved closer to him.

"Hmm" he hummed. "Good thing."

It's best that Shepard get away with spending some quality time with her turian. Soon enough this vacation would be over, and the thoughts of the broken Citadel lay in her mind like the grim reaper waiting for your soul that you promised. She'll get there soon enough, but for now… she has this… she has him…

for now.

#

#

"How is he doing doctor?" Shepard asked as she walked into the medbay as soon as Chakwas would let anyone in. It had been just over an hour since they had brought him back on board, and Shepard tried to set a meeting to plan their next step, but Liara convinced Shepard to wait until the pressing issue was 'solved'. They knew where they had to go, and there was enough time in between Joker getting them there that they could plan later. Besides, Shepard couldn't stop fidgeting because it was her only alternative to shaking uncontrollably, and she can't be doing that in front of others, so she resulted in constantly moving up until Liara told her to relax. So Shepard sat at the mess table staring through the window as Chakwas worked away. As soon as Chakwas gave the gesture that it was possible to come in, Shepard busted from her seat and went into the medbay, eagerly waiting any good news at all; but knowing better than to expect it.

Garrus lay over on the table, his fringe hanging over the edge and a pillow propping his head up. He was half in his armor. Chakwas had removed his upper armor to address his wounds from the explosion. Several pieces of shrapnel lay in a pan, and the front half of his armor was littered with pock holes where debris bounced off the metal, and Garrus had several wrapped bandages along his left side that took the brunt of the damage. Shepard looked and could already tell it wasn't anywhere near good… maybe not as bad as a rocket to the face… but still not great. Knowing him he should have been up by now, and Shepard cast worried looks his way as she asked how he was doing.

"The wound he received from the Citadel re-opened from the concussive force of the the blast. That was stabilized first, along with some other less… severe internal hemorrhaging. His armor protected him from being shredded, though I still had to remove several embeeded pieces from his arm, leg, shoulder, and waist. X-ray's were positive and he only cracked a rib from being tossed about. Despite the litany of injuries he sustained by all medical standards he should of been up and about by now. I assume EDI filled you in on what we discovered?" Chakwas spoke while standing by Garrus tapping away at the medical report on her datapad.

"He was… poisoned?" Shepard said, swallowing hard. Her hands were fidgeting and she knew too damn well she was useless to him at this point. Until they got to horizon, until they figured out a way to cure him…

"I.. Didn't catch much else." Shepard said. She shrugged and kicked herself for not paying finer attention during EDI's debrief.

"While I was trying to stabilize his wounds, Solana had suggested to EDI to test for poisoning. EDI discovered a toxin within his blood stream. I knew this was significant when her attempts to discover the orgin of the toxin came up empty. I followed up with a brain scan, and in his unconscious state he is experiencing intense dreaming, reminded me of you, after that beacon on Eden Prime. Though his brain waves are less… erratic."

Shepard tried to think back to when he might of gotten poisoned… _wait, those tanks. They sprayed him with that gas before the bomb went off. The explosion was trying to cover that up. Whoever did this was trying to remove any lead we could have on them. Sol has good eyes to of caught that right away, damn we'd be nowhere without that._

"Can you help him doc?" She asked.

"Not without knowing what the poison is. I was ready to suggest heading over to the Citadel to access their resources, but when EDI came up with nothing, I knew the Citadel wouldn't be able to help us. Until we find out more about that gas, all we can do is wait and see if he improves. Though I will continue to do tests and monitor his health until then."

"Thats not what I was hoping to hear." Shepard said down cast. She watched his breathing, slow and long deep breaths. All he had to do was open his eyes and tell her he's ready to kick ass. But… she knew that wouldn't happen until they figured out how to get rid of the posion.

"Do what you can doctor. I should go. Need to do what I can on my end."

"Be safe Shepard. I'll keep him alive until you find a cure."

Shepard walked out, albeit a little reluctantly, but she knew what she had to do. She had to help Garrus and the only way she could do that is by finding out who these assholes are, and where they keep their cures. She called in the meeting again, more focused now and they went over what they knew.

"These guys were messing around with Santuary on Horizon. Until we get there that's all the information we have to go on. EDI your coming ground side with us, I need you scanning every damn terminal in that place for any information on what Garrus is dealing with."

"Yes Commander"

"Sol, you good to go? I need you leading a second team, we would be faster with two."

"I'm always ready." She said. Her face was cold and concentrated, pay enough attention to her mannerisms and you'd know she was pissed. Angry at herself for being there and not being able to stop it. And furious at these people. _Who the fuck were they? And did they not just come out of a war with sentient machines that were about to eradicate everything? Who the fuck would do this shit? Making more reapers rrahhhh I will tear their damn throats out. I ever find out who planted that poison I will make their death slow. History class taught me of ancient {turian} torture methods and spirits did I payed attention._

"Okay, you take Tali and Kaiden, I'll go with EDI and Liara. We'll start from the ground and work our way up the main facility, you make your way down from the roof. You see anyone that can talk, you make sure they are still alive to do so. Given what we found in that asteroid and what they used to create at Sanctuary, I would expect to find a few reapers. Nothing we haven't handled before. See anything that resembles those gas tanks, you take it with you. We'll meet in the middle."

"Miranda's father ran this place, his office on the top floor would be our best bet on finding anything" Liara said.

"Not necessarily, we shut this place down, whoever moved in obviously wanted the information from their research. We are looking for information on these new guys, where they're from, where they can be found; and any information we can find to help Garrus. We don't know how much time he has so we should assume not much." Shepard said.

"We'll find something. You figure we'd hear about kidnapping, considering you need people to build reapers." Tali said.

"Anything you can find. We all ready?" Shepard asked, itching to get moving, as they were approaching Horizon.

"Don't worry Shepard, Garrus is tough, he'll hang in long enough for us to find what we need." Kaiden said, offering a nod of confidence in Shepard's direction. They may of had a thing years ago, but Kaiden still cared, and he respected her decision, and would die if thats what it would take to save Garrus.

They were all willing to die to save him. Thats what it would take to be willing to go back into a place like Sanctuary.

Joker came on in the comms to give them an ETA of a few minutes, everyone headed down to the cargo bay and suited up. Shepard was putting on her armor and she noticed the carving Garrus had put on the inside of her breastplate so it would rest right over her heart. It was the looping infinite symbol with G&S in each circle. He had even faintly circled the symbol with a heart. Small things like that Garrus had always did,… always does…. he would always try and be around when she found them so he could watch her smile. She was well aware of how much he liked her smile. During the war… he was one of the few reasons she even had to smile. Prepping to go ground side without seeing him at the table across from her… it felt… empty? Offputting. They boarded the Kodiak and it was the first time in a long time that she had got onto the shuttle without hearing one of his snarky remarks about how they are going to kick ass and that he's with her.

She had to look at all her friends around her to remind herself she wasn't going in solo. But it was still a similar feeling.

Five minutes later they were hovering over the main facility. This place was a nightmare and everyone in the shuttle was on edge.

_Just another ghost town… thats all this place is…_

"Approaching the roof, team Talon get ready."

"Team Talon?" Sol asked by the door, casting a raised browplate in Cortez's direction.

"Why not, your sharp and dangerous. James wouldn't shut up about it." Cortez replied from the cockpit.

Sol rolled her eyes, then looked outside as the door opened and the wrecked tower loomed above everything else. Windows were smashed, and there were scorch marks all over the building from long dead fires. As the Kodiak roared overhead, it shook loose a piece of debris from the top of the building and the crew watched as it fell silently to the bottom floor. Cortez dropped the first team off as close to the door on the roof as he could, then lifted off and began descending towards the bottom. Sol came onto the radio as Kaiden ripped off the door with his biotics and they proceeded inside.

"They build reapers here?" She asked.

"Cerberus was trying to build it's own army. The Illusive man thought he could control the reapers and use them for his own needs." Shepard replied back, holding a finger to her ear to block out the noise.

"Sounds like _he_ was an idiot" she replied back.

"He's no more than dust now" Shepard said.

Cortex dropped Shepard off in the same spot he had over a year ago, no fires were burning and no harvesters were flying overhead. It was quiet, and nothing about the courtyard offered any insight into the horrors Cerberus had committed within. This place was a disgrace; when this whole mess is over, Shepard was thinking of calling her mom and blowing this place up with Dreadnought Kilimanjaro from orbit. It had survived the battle over earth and last Shepard knew, it was one of the ships assigned Hackett's fleet.

As they went through the main entrance, EDI stopped by the processing office, and tapped a few keys on the terminal.

"There are active reapers within the complex. It seems they have placed themselves strategic areas throughout the facility. Following similar patterns to those you discovered on the other base. We will have to fight through them as we search."

"Of course." Shepard said, unamused. "Sol you get that?"

"Already killed a few husks up here, were moving." She replied.

"EDI, find anything?" Shepard asked.

"There is a terminal of interest on the 54th floor, team Talon is only a few floors above it, I have asked them to head in that direction. I am unable to access it myself without assistance. The lower floors also appear less… active than the rest of the facility. Floors 40-Through-59 are a darkzone. I assume they operated strictly within these floors."

"Got it, Sol get any information you can off of that terminal, We'll meet up and exit through the roof, Cortez be ready to pick us up there."

"Roger Commander"

"See you soon Shepard."

#

Sol held up her hand and Kaiden and Tali stopped. There was a brute shuffling down the hallway, alone. Sol vanished and the other two watched as a moment later, the Brute collapsed with a solid 'Thunk' its head rolling off. Sol reappeared and put away her omniblade, a quick gesture later and they were moving.

"At least they have no spiders… I hope" Tali muttured as they quietly made their way down to the terminal EDI assigned them.

They worked together and took down several husks and brutes, even distracting a few husks into one spot to be crushed by Kaidens biotics with two cinder blocks. Sol wondered how they would have access to enough biomass to make these guys. It's not like this is the kinda thing you volunteer for. Off memory she hadn't heard of anything suspicious on Palaven, and considering it takes turians and krogan to make brutes… there isn't any way they could possibly have enough prisoners to make an army.

_At least there's no Marauders._

"Wait hold up" Sol said, and then she ducked into the adjacent room, Kaiden and Tali followed.

"What is it?" Kaiden asked.

"Husk… and he's been dead a while" She said as she was kneeling over its corpse.

The meat on it was rotting and there were beetle sized flies munching away at it human remains. Sol ignored the smell, and turned it's head over. On the back of it's head was the usual hardware, and there wasn't much about it that was different from a reaper-made husk. Sol opened her omniblade and sliced the back portion of the skull off. Puss poured out and Kaiden put a hand over his nose to cover the smell.

"Oh! God, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Reapers don't rot, the nanites dissolve them after they die, and they prevent the organic half from rotting away while they are still useful. If they didn't do that, then the reapers wouldn't have enough of a maintainable army to effectively harvest a cycle. This poor sucker is rotting, and no nanites have dealt with his corpse. Reapers didn't make these guys."

"I thought we knew that already. I mean, someone created the ones you found in the asteroid, and Cerberus was making them before we shut them down."

"Right, but Cerberus could make reapers, but they never could control them fully. The real reapers got to them before that. These ones are different."

"You were talking about how those banshees were acting weird when you arrived back on the ship.. You think these ones can be controlled?" Tali asked.

"They were herding us." Sol said coldy.

"What? Thats insane." Kaiden said.

"Is it? Seems damn convenient that the banshees didn't see us for so long, and that Garrus got separated and pushed into a corner. And that they only attacked after the trap was sprung. You want my bet? Someone wanted that to happen, maybe not to Garrus specifically, maybe they were after Shepard, but shes an infiltrator, you can't just force her into a corner, he's the next best bet. Take him out, and you have a good chance of taking out Shepard too. And look at this."

She reached into it's skull and through the puss and leftover brain matter, she pulled out a microchip the size of a playing card and as thick as a knife handle. Flicking away the gunk she showed it to the others.

"That look like advanced reaper tech to you?" She asked, handing the relatively crude piece of technology over to Kaiden.

"No, this is definitely not something left over from the reapers." Kaiden said, handing it back.

"Whoever these people are, they know how to make reapers, and how to control them. We figure out where this was made, we have another lead. If I'm right, that terminal will also tell us where they are getting their subjects." She said, pocketing the device and standing up.

They made their way down two more floors, and managed to take out the reapers without too much trouble. Tali suggested that they were left to idle, considering it would require someone to instruct them if they are being controlled.

"Makes sense when you think about all those reapers back on that asteroid." Sol said.

They made their way to the terminal, grabbed the info —which was heavily encrypted and would require EDI to uncode— and continued down.

"We have the info, meet you in the middle Shepard" Sol called out through the radio.

Shepard came on through the sound of heavy gunfire "Oh good, maybe catch that guy we saw?"

"Where?" Sol asked, her senses heightening at thought of finding someone responsible for all this. She was already planning all the things she could do to make him talk… and things she'll do to him _after_ he talks.

Spirits help him if she catches him first.

#

Shepard and her squad moved quickly up the first 20 floors. EDI had already accessed the area and could inform them if anything of interest was on the floors above the 33rd floor. They climbed the stairs and reached the top panting a little, they took a moment to catch their breath than walked right into an open room filled with about forty husks guarding the place.

These one happened to notice them.

"Motherfu—" Shepard threw out her hands and sent debris scattering out wards shredding the ones in front into pieces.

Liara sent out a singularity and caught a bunch in the middle and Shepard warped them and in the explosion pieces went flying, splatting against the wall and knocking over some of the other running husks like bowling pins. The room funnelled the husks the closer they got to the trio, and Shepard could only imagine how many triple head shots she could pull off, how many Garrus could of pulled off. He would of loved such a tactical advantage.

EDI sent a decoy in the middle and a group of them went after that and were mowed down by gunfire. Pistols out, the three of them dispatched the rest of the husk, and Shepard only had to cut down a few with her omni-blade.

She looked down on her armor, and gave out a heavy sigh.

_Damn they got blood on this, I just waxed it the other day!_

Lets keep moving. They walked out into the open and headed towards a set of doors. Parts of the ceiling were caved in and as they went up the next few floors, they had to find ways around them. While taking out husks, both active and dormant.

They were at the 44th floor right about when Team Talon were nearing the terminal. This floor had been cleared out, and there were pieces of flesh everywhere. Blood stained the floor, and there were windows lining the sides. The room was large, and built like a testing area. A wall in the far side had caved in, and when they went in to check what was behind the windows, more corpses that were shredded lined the place. Broken terminals and scorch marks along the walls, whatever happened here got out of hand and whatever they were testing got them. They were all dead, and by the level of decay, it was recent, a few days at most.

Whatever killed them was still in here. Something new, most likely horrible.

Shifting through the back room Shepard found a datapad, and plucked it off the corpse in a labcoat. On it, it read:

_Predictions on the test we are about to begin are positive, this subject is more effective than our previous subjects. Unlike brutes which require multiple subjects, this only requires one subject. It is also predicted to be more effective at 'suppressing' any opposition and is much easier to control than a group of husks. There were concerns about the security of the test area and the test subject but I assured the others that the built in kill switch is the only security we need. This is the closest we have ever gotten to autonomous heavy infantry. Cerberus may of died before their vision could be realized. But with success like this, and the research going on over at {location redacted remotely} we will rise above their ashes and accomplish what not even the reapers could do._

_Dr. Exander_

_Chief researcher._

Shepard looked at the torn corpse and shook her head "Idiot."

"Rise above the ashes?" Liara said after reading through it herself

"Motto you think?" Shepard asked.

"Not that knowing their motto would help, but it seems that way."

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of metal scraping on metal. Whatever these people made… it was nearby.

"Shh… let's keep moving, I'd rather not fight this thing." Shepard said and they got low and moved along the room.

"Shit, dead end" they rounded the corner and were blocked by debris, they'd have to either go back into the big testing room, where the scraping was coming from, or get rid of the debris. Either way, whatever that thing was, it would know they were there.

They looked at each other as if to decide what to do. Neither of the looks suggested finding out what that thing was. So with Liara's help Shepard tore open the debris and the crawled inside to the other end. The scraping picked up its pace and was headed their way so the scurried through the hole as fast as they could. They got out into a hallway, and at the end were a set of stairs to put some distance between them and whatever that thing is. They ran and made it to the stairs when the debris they just crawled through a moment before exploded.

Behind them, a giant mechanical nightmare about half the side of a brute was making its way toward them. What used to be an elcor was now a mechanical monstrosity. The lower half of it's face and neck were gone, torn away; and in its place was a giant cannon that jutted forward out of what was left of it's mouth. Its entire left leg was gone, the remaining bits of its skin torn off from the stump. It's metal leg scraped along the floor as it shambled slowly towards them. Most of it's front was made of re-enforced metal. On it's back two auto cannons arched above it and as soon as it saw the trio it let out a deafening scream that sounded like a mix between a boat horn and a trumpet. Not quite like a reaper horn, but damn close.

The guns on its back started firing immediately and the three of them ran up the stairs as the monsters main gun opened up, blue swath of destruction was sent tearing through the stairs they were just on, and continuing through the wall behind it.

"I do not like that thing _at_ all!" EDI proclaimed as they ran up.

"At least it has no way after us" Liara said.

The stairs took them up a few more floors, but debris blocked their way. EDI told them there was another way up on the other side of the building, but there was a 'significant' amount of reapers between them.

"We are not alone." EDI suddenly said as she pointed down at the end of the room.

A human in labcoat saw them, and grabbed a memory drive from the console he was at then took off.

They chased after him and ran into a room with the 'significant amount of reapers', they watched as he ran through countless husks, brutes they all ignored him. He took off through some doors, flashing his omni-tool before closing the doors and giving Shepard a look from behind his glasses. As soon as the doors closed the reapers all turned and started moving towards them. Shepard and her team opened fire and a minute later, Sol came onto the radio.

"We have the info, meet you in the middle Shepard" Sol said.

"Oh good, maybe catch that guy we saw?"

#

Sol was kneeling down with her hand on the floor, she waited in silence. She took deep breaths and concentrated, honing in her senses. Hearing, touch smell, everything came to her and through her training she could pick up the slightest hint. She could pick up the vibrations of running through the floor, he was nearby and headed their way. She gestured to the others that he was heading towards them and they ducked behind a corner, Tali gripping her shot gun, and Kaiden holding his hands up ready to throw a barrier. Sol cloaked herself and watched as he ran down the hall.

The man came running and Sol clotheslined him, bringing him down hard with the other arm as he hung in the air for a split second. She de-cloaked with her gun pointing at his head and a smirk on her face.

"Gotcha" she said.

"If only." was all he said, and released a live grenade from his hand, it rolled off his hand and stopped by her foot. He let out a laugh and closed his eyes.

"Oh shit what the—"

BOOM

#

"Keep Moving!" Shepard called out as they battled the massive horde of reapers.

"I have an idea" EDI called out.

"Do it!" Shepard said.

"Stay in cover" EDI said and popped out from behind her cover and ran at the husks, she took out several of them and threw a grenade, enough to gather the rooms attention to her. She ran through them, and threw her body around to avoid their grasp, doing cartwheels and jumps and moving around them like only an AI with excellent spatial awareness could. She ran up the front of a brute as the husks chased her, and she grabbed it's head while avoiding it's arms, and leaped off it's chest, flipping over it while twisting, she tore off it's head, and used it's sharp edges and threw it at the other Brute, smashing it's face inwards and killing both of them in a span of a few seconds. With only one Brute remaining, EDI ran up and jumped clear over it, grabbing it's head and peeling it back along with her. The Brute fell backwards, and as soon as it hit the ground it had an omniblade in it's neck.

"A Singularity would be opportune!" She called out, as she had managed to herd the mindless husks into a tight circle during her run, Liara threw herself over the cover and brought out the largest singularity she could muster, throwing most of the husks into it, the ones who managed to escape it's blast were quickly taken out, EDI threw in an incineration blast that the singularity engulfed, lighting everything within it's grasp on fire. Shepard finished them off with a warp field right into the middle, the shock wave from the blast shattering glass panels and throwing husk pieces everywhere. The sound from the explosion was so loud, Shepard and liara's ears were ringing, and as the three met in the middle, they were shirking guts off their armor and getting the wax from their ears.

"You should do that more often EDI" Shepard said, mightily impressed.

"Probability of this platform surviving reckless actions like that repeatedly is low. Joker has invested an interest in me maintaining it's current condition, I am also partial to it's current, functional state."

"Yea… your probably right, great work regardless."

"I am pleased to assist."

"Right, let's see if we can catch that guy, if not we should be getting close to Sol soon."

"We are still in a surveillance dark zone. I have no visual on the others. Perhaps whoever was here purposely removed any cameras." EDI said.

"Sounds a bit paranoid don't you think?" Liara commented.

"They're probably just scared of you Liara." Shepard replied with a half-hearted smirk.

"After what they've done here, they better be. Not to mention Garrus."

Tali came on the radio "We found your man, Sol—" she was cut off by the sound of an explosion, and the ceiling rained down pieces on top of them. From the force they felt, they must of been only a floor or two below. Shepard motioned to the others to step it up. They headed to the door that the man had run though earlier. Right as they approached it, that thing blasted its way through the floor, and climbed up. It got it's side caught on some rebar, and it ignored it and tore through it, ripping off a chunk of skin. It roared at them as soon as it saw them, and blasted at them. They were able to duck through the doors and down the hall and miss the blue stream of death by a few feet.

"…Do… you hear that?" Liara asked, and they stopped at the bottom of the next set of stairs and looked behind them.

It sounded like an electrical charge spinning up… but different.

"Sound like a chubby banshee warping towards us?" Shepard asked sarcastically and highly out of time or mood to deal with it. Though describing it accurately.

They looked back down the hall, and watched as electricity began arching between the walls and floor. The beast ripped itself into existence and let out another scream. It drooped down onto what one could guess were knees, and it wasn't firing or doing much moving.

"Take it out!" Shepard screamed and the three of them threw biotics, incinerations, and a generous amount of ammo at it.

Most of it bounced off the metal plates that made up the majority of its front. Though they managed to shoot off one of it's guns on it's back, and shred a decent portion of meat, exposing what looked like sensitive parts. The thing woke up before they could shoot at the weakspot, and it continued its slow trudge towards them, making a whole cacophony of noise the whole way.

"That _THING_ is a nightmare!" Liara exclaimed, and they continued running up the stairs.

"At least we know it's weakness. It's slow, and—" Shepard began

"It can teleport!" Liara interrupted.

"Yea… it can do that." She said in between breaths as they ran up the stairs "A concussive round would have been useful in that weak spot."

The others didn't say anything to that, they just kept moving. But they all knew there was one person on the ship who knew how to place a good shot where it's needed.

They had to meet up with Sol and get out before that thing caught up with them. They had what they needed. Shepard was thinking as they moved

_I hope Sol didn't kill the guy… Why haven't they radioed in? _

_Im sure they're fine._

…

_We better hurry._

#

The grenade went off tearing through the walls and ripping the man in half. Kaiden winced under the pressure as he struggled to keep Sol in stasis. She had no time to escape and he reacted fast enough to keep her alive. As soon as the debris stopped flying he released it and fell to his knees, exhausted.

"Damn good thing I took the time to let Liara teach me how to hold a stasis field" he said, panting.

Sol just stood there, hands shaking. It took her a moment, then she took a deep breath and knelt down and searched the half corpse.

"Fucking idiot" She muttered, and found the datachip in his pocket, it was pretty damaged, but hopefully EDI would be able to find something off of it. She stood up again, stowing away the shock for later and walked back to the other two as soon as she managed to force her hands to stop shaking.

"Keelah, That was close" Tali said.

"I'll drink about it later, we still have a mission." Sol said. She was still shaking a little, but not enough for the others to notice.

They heard fighting below them, and a minute later Shepard and her team arrived. They all greeted each other warn smiles, and quick exchanges of personal status were made. No one was dead yet, and they had what they needed. Time to get out.

"What now?"

Before anyone could answer the beast bursted through a wall, taking a self made shortcut from the stairs and it threw itself at them. Liara threw up a barrier to stop it from slamming into everyone, and you could watch as the electricity began generating around it.

"Liara get ready to move!" Shepard yelled.

The electricity grew stronger and the thing was about to jump.

"NOW!"

Liara dove out of the way and the monster teleported itself right where Liara was just standing. It would have tore her to pieces if it tried to occupy the same space as her, and right when it shut down, all six of them fired at the same weak spot, bullets and biotics digging their way through the flesh and metal.

Sol looked down at her grenade belt, hesitated a moment, then grabbed one and threw it into the child sized hole they made. The thing woke up as they ducked for cover, and it charged it's main gun— and exploded. Guts and metals tossed themselves down either end of the narrow hall.

"What the hell was that?" Kaiden asked. Popping in a new heat sink and taking a piece of shrapnel that had embedded itself in his armor out.

"Another reason to stop these guys, let go." Shepard said plainly. It was another damn thing to add to the list of how bad she wants to stop these guys.

They made their way to the roof and boarded the shuttle, Cortez bringing it down as soon as they had stepped outside. They got on board and checked their wounds. Some scratches and cuts, nothing major.

Sol sat in the chair in the corner silent. Hands fidgeting over an imaginary detonator. She told herself she would give herself time to process that she almost died because of her recklessness. Because she underestimated what these people were willing to do. She would have time to think it over alone.

Kaiden whispered to Shepard about what happened, and even though Sol could hear, she ignored it. It didn't matter.

Shepard looked over at her, then back at Kaiden. "She's tough. I'll talk to her later. Good thing you were there."

"Yea… still. Damn close, I—.. Just another reason to hate these bastards." He said.

"Yea… sure could have used Garrus against that thing" Shepard said with a sigh. She had left her sniper rifle back on the Normandy, figuring anything they would be taking on would be close close-mid range combat. Garrus always took his rifle, and was better than her at shooting a rifle at the sweet spot of something you could almost touch. Shepard never mentioned it to anyone, but she felt weird sitting behind cover and not having his bulky suit beside her. It made her feel more exposed than usual, and she tried to put the feeling behind her. Her rhythm was off and she knew it; she was able to get it done, but it felt real sloppy. Something about relying so heavily on someone else in every situation, and knowing that they relied on you. Take one of them out of the equation and it feels like someone pulled a chair out from under you. She had to figure out a way to stay concentrated in a fight without him.

One way or another.

_It's only for now. _She thought to herself as the Normandy came into view.

Only for now.


End file.
